675 women just received a huge settlement from Vice over a pay discrimination lawsuit

The gender pay gap has existed for as long as women have been in the workforce, but frustratingly, it persists even in 2019. In recent years, companies ranging from Nike to the U.S. Soccer Federation have come under fire for pay discrimination. And now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Vice Media has agreed to a settlement of $1.87 million in a class action lawsuit over pay discrimination within the company.
About 675 of the company’s former female employees joined the suit, which claims that Vice used salary history to determine its workers’ pay rates, leading female employees to be paid less than male employees. According to Variety, the suit was filed in February 2018 by a former project manager named Elizabeth Rose. Four other women were named plaintiffs in the suit.
Variety notes that the five named plaintiffs will each receive no more than $15,000, but the other class members in the suit will be paid about $1,700 (which is what the settlement comes out to per person after legal fees). THR reports that this amount was deemed to be fair after a statistician analyzed Vice employee salary data dating back to 2012.
I've learned that Vice Media has agreed to a $1.875 million deal to resolve claims the company failed to pay men and women equally for similar work. Vice was likely saved from paying millions more because the company tends to employ younger women. https://t.co/N3Y4skET6v
— Eriq Gardner (@eriqgardner) March 27, 2019
"Vice’s new management team is committed to maintaining a workplace where all employees are compensated equitably," a spokeswoman told Variety. "This is why we provided our employees with the results of the company’s pay equity analysis, and have also settled the Rose case whereby we resolve any claimed historical disparities. We are dedicated to the equitable treatment of all people and we look forward to the Court’s approval of the settlement so that we can continue to fulfill this mission."
This isn’t the first time female Vice employees have taken issue with the way they’ve been treated by the company. In December 2017, more than two dozen women claimed they had been sexually harassed while working at Vice. In January 2018, as a result of the allegations, the company’s chief digital officer, Mike Germano, was let go, according to The New York Times.
This settlement doesn’t make up for the fact that female employees at Vice were consistently paid less than their male counterparts, but it’s a step in the right direction. We’re looking forward to the day when equal pay doesn’t require a lawsuit.